First Up- RAT TRAP THE COLLECTIVE-

Could you tell me about your experience of being a collective? How does it work? Are there any difficulties? Perhaps being your own artist and being part of the group, wearing many hats?

Rhys:

The heat!

Rat trap:

[Laughing]

Elin:

I think we rarely really disagree on things. We have different opinions, but we listen to each other. We naturally have been able to collaborate and share ideas without getting into disagreements.

I think the reason we are in the collective is that we’ve been actually able to work together multiple times and it just feels right.

Carlota:

Personally, I think that being part of the collective helps us get through challenges that are way harder to get through on your own – like staying motivated, challenging and developing your work, finding new opportunities, promoting yourself, etc. We promote each other, help each other, and share ideas with each other.

Working together has also been a way to give continuation to the crit space we had in art school.

Gweni:

That’s how we ended up together. We all love chatting and bouncing ideas off each other.  

Elin:

I think just like if you’re in a relationship with someone, it works when you have the same values.

It’s the same for the collective. Our practices may seem very different. But our values and what kind of art we appreciate and value are similar.

Gweni:

I think that I would have stopped making art by now if I didn’t have such supportive people around. 

So the collective kept you going after university?

Elin:

Safety in numbers.

Rat Trap:

Yeah!

[Laughing together]

Elin:

Honestly, it is so much easier to promote. I feel like Rat Trap has a strong brand. So sometimes it feels safe to be under that brand. It is like being a member of a book club. It encourages you to read, because you are discussing the reading. Even if you didn’t read the book, you just turn up and find out about it.

So it’s about each one of you individually being less vulnerable because you are part of the group?

Carlota:

I think that’s one of the main reasons why we started doing this. To have a safety net and help each other out throughout the process of developing our ‘career’.

Anja:

Does the collective provide structure to all of you?

Gweni:

It provides an organic structure – lots of freedom to work in a way that fits everyone, and do things that we enjoy together. However, It’s not always as fun and nice as this part of the residency – going to the beach or a restaurant all the time.

Elin:

Sometimes one of us will be unavailable to do something but it’s fine because the other three can step in. 

Carlota:

We are like sporadic studio mates.

It’s like mimicking the university experience?

Gweni:

I’m not sure – maybe it’s mimicking the fun side of the university experience? Getting people together and that kind of stuff – Rat Trap was born back in 2015/16 when me and Carlota were students at Cardiff School of Art and Design so I guess it makes sense that it relates to art school in some way.

Carlota:

Tom, my boyfriend, was planning to put on a gig with his band mates and in conversation, they asked me if I could ask some artists to show their work as part of the ‘thing’. I thought it could be fun so asked Gweni if she would be up for it and she said yes.

Gweni:

We asked more people over the years to get involved and it just grew and shrunk and grew again from there.

Elin:

When I joined, it felt like Rat Trap was pretty well established. That’s how it felt from the outside.

Carlota:

We got together to think through what we wanted to do – we decided to call ourselves a collective then we thought of naming the collective Rat Trap (we are not very sure why or how).

Gweni:

I think it was when we did our first ever event at Jacob’s Market in Cardiff in a grotty smelly basement, which was likely full of rats. And I can’t remember who came up with it but someone decided to call the event Rat Trap. Some said oh that’s horrible, some said oh, that’s amazing, but it’s just kind of stuck.

I understand that the Rat Trap plays a role of a forum for artists voices? Is it a big part of the Rat Trap identity, the bouncing of ideas?

Rhys:

Yes, bouncing ideas is crucial. We have a lot of discussions on ideas, and we’ll often come to similar conclusions on many things. Of course, naturally, on other matters we might all have different opinions or ideas – but we all hear each other out and that is what’s important when it comes to creating a dynamic that works.

Do you always welcome this kind of contestation of ideas?

Carlota:

We try not to raise flags or have a particular agenda for anything. We all have our own opinions about things – that comes through our individual practices but is not forced upon the collective views. As a collective, we are not here to make statements, we are here to question things.

How do you decide when the project happens?

Elin:

We work on opportunities together and it’s usually when we’ve all seen an open call or opportunity simultaneously and it comes up in conversation, often just in the group chat. 

Carlota:

We work together when we can find gaps between our lives and jobs.

Tell me more about it. How do you balance that?

Carlota:

Sometimes we balance, sometimes we don’t.

Gweni:

You think like you have a perfect formula one week and then it, kind of, goes away.

Carlota:

And that’s when it’s nice to have cheerleaders!

Gweni Lloyd

1. What are 3 key words that would describe your practice?

Shiny, Weird, Mundane

2. Who/what has had an influence on your practice? Is there a favourite quote?

Too many to list but I’ll give it a go…

First influences and I think the reason I ended up being an artist, were of all of the strange things I was exposed to as a kid and teenager – growing up in a bizarre post industrial landscape in North West Wales; having a dad who side gigged as a DJ who dragged me to festivals and free parties since I was a baby and witnessing all the surreal decor and projection that goes along with that stuff; transitioning from analogue to digital as I transitioned from childhood to adolescence – coming of age online.

All of the staff and people and things I was exposed to through doing an art foundation – a course I was lucky enough to fall into, because it was free and let me have a year to piss about and understand who I was.

The weird, boring and overwhelming complexities of everyday life.

Films, especially 70s horror films. Kids TV and cartoons. Reading. Walking. Dreaming. 

3. What ideas do you want viewers to engage with through your artwork?

This is always a tricky one because I really hate demanding people engage. I never know how much information to share and have a problematic relationship with things like ‘exhibition texts’ or huge essays next to pieces of work. It just feels so much like I’m performing to a certain ‘art world’. Personally I’d love for people to come away from my work with any kinds of feelings or an opinion – love/hate/confusion are all thrilling to conjure up in audiences. 

I guess some of the themes and ideas I personally encounter and explore through my work are the everyday, labour, human as animal, nature, technology, digital tactility, and the blurring of time. Maybe people get these? But it’s ok if they don’t.

4. What are the obstacles you face in the production of your art practice?

Same as most artists I imagine – money, time, energy, opportunity, confidence. Maybe in that order?

5. To whom do you go for help when you hit a block or have difficulties in your creative process?

 I’m studying an MFA at the moment so I’m lucky enough to have lots of supportive peers and teachers around. Other than that I go to my partner, and of course to Rat Trap. Talking through and even just having reassurance works wonders. Another amazing thing about coming from Wales is that I know lots of Wales based artists and practitioners who are further on in their careers than me who I can turn to for specific career advice etc. 

6. Apart from being an artist what other jobs have you done?

So many – I’ve worked in McDonald’s, Boots, a gift shop, as a producer, a curator, a tour guide, an invigilator, a workshop leader, a personal assistant, a projectionist, and some more that I’ve inevitably forgotten.

7. What new skills have you needed to learn for your artwork?

In recent years I’ve learned how to work with 3D animation and world building softwares like blender and unreal engine – these have totally transformed my practice and are skills I’m using and building on during this residency. 

8. In your creative process, do you look into research outside of the art world?

for example: sociology, politics, technology

Yes. I’d get so bored and miserable if I could only look at art worlds for ideas. For me it feels strange to have boundaries and binaries on subjects. Now to contradict that by labelling subjects I look to: geography, geology, folklore, social history, natural history, geopolitics, technology, music, film, literature. And more I’ve definitely forgotten to list.

9. In what areas outside of the art world would you like to collaborate in the future?

I’d like to hang out with a geologist for a few days. Or a witch. Or a lizard.

10. Could you describe the role of art in the future in 3 words or phrases?

for example, social and conceptual engagement

This is my optimistic answer: fun, self-aware, curious.

Rhys Aneurin

1. What are 3 key words that would describe your practice?

Instinctive, personal, developing 

2. Who has had an influence on your practice? Is there a favourite quote?

 There have been many people who have influenced and inspired me in many different ways;
Fernand Leger, Max Beckman, Edward Hopper, Malevich, Piet Mondrian, Mark Rothko, Thomas Hart Benton, El Lizitsky, Popova, Rene Magritte, Roy Lichtenstein, Herge, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mort Garson, Portishead, David R Edwards, Jean Claude Vannier, Gerry & Sylvia Anderson.

3. What ideas do you want viewers to engage with through your artwork?

 The idea of exploring how a certain place makes you feel, especially if it’s somewhere you see often. 

Usually, my paintings are documents of buildings that I see every day. Playing with the geometry of what I see and limiting the palette to a handful of colours, and opting to turn to feeling and expression, is my way of questioning how I feel about my subject matter. As I live in Cardiff, naturally, most of my work is based on the capital’s buildings and urban landscapes that I see day-to-day. 

I feel my work comes from a place of observing how the city’s face is changing, usually not for the better, in my opinion. I feel like the architecture, especially the city centre of Cardiff, seems to be based not on what citizens want and need but on profit, big business and a handful of people’s pompous and short-sighted views of what they think a city should be. 

4. What are the obstacles you face in the production of your art practice?

 I think it’s time mainly. Like most of my fellow Rat Trappers, I have another job, which takes up a lot of my time, so I tend to paint on evenings and weekends. That can sometimes be a struggle.

I also don’t like the sense of competition in art, which probably hinders me to some extent also. I find competitiveness in the art scene to be off-putting, it exists in music too, all of the arts really. 
Having a mutual conversation with other artists about work is one of the biggest pleasures of being an artist – but I occasionally get a sense of one-upmanship and myself-ery from some – and these kinds of experiences tend to make me not want to attend things as much as I probably should. An irrational fear perhaps! Anyway, I better curb that one there! 

5. To whom do you go for help when you hit a block or have difficulties in your creative process?

I’ve got many people who I feel I can turn to for help or constructive criticism – I’m blessed with a lot of creative and talented friends – but I tend to keep my creative process and progress on work quite close to my chest, and share with a handful at the most if need be. They’re not necessarily always artists either. 

6. Apart from being an artist what other jobs have you done?

 I work in bird conservation, for RSPB Cymru. I’ve been an RSPB member since I was a kid, so I can now say that I’ve got two jobs that I have a genuine passion for. I also play synthesisers in a Welsh-language pop band called Yr Ods. 

I’ve had a few other jobs before of course, which, while perhaps they didn’t make me very happy from day to day, have affected my outlook on life in a good way. 

I worked at the front desk of the Wales Millennium Centre, which really opened my eyes to the shit that so many public-facing roles have to deal with. I also worked for the Welsh Government’s landlord & agent licencing authority Rent Smart Wales which was also rather enlightening – I worked with a wonderful bunch of interesting people, but the job really showed how skewed this country is towards buy-to-let landlords…and how ridiculously entitled many of them are. Rent cap now! 

7. What new skills have you needed to learn for your artwork?

 
Well, I worked as an illustrator for years, along with going through education focusing on an illustrative detailed inky style, which often usually depicted things rather accurately. So when I started painting, it was like stripping all of that away and learning again to be bold and reckless, working fast, make mistakes and not feeling intimidated or fearful of messing it up. Starting afresh with no pressure was a great relief at the time, and I’m glad to say I still feel that way when I paint. 

8. In your creative process, do you look into research outside of the art world?

for example: sociology, politics, technology

I grew up in a household where history and politics were discussed freely and often, and I’m so glad about that.

It’s my interest in history that led me to find a subject matter for this residency. That nickel workers in the Welsh village of Clydach were, unbeknownst to them, creating a crucial part of the atom bomb that caused such devastation and horror in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is fascinating. 

I went to Clydach and found the close proximity of chapels to the nickel refinery to be somewhat ironic. The world changed forever after those bombs – I believe that the effect of the atomic bomb is the closest thing to a ‘god-like’ power that exists – and as we’ve seen the role of the chapel and church in Welsh communities dwindle in the 20^th century, it could be argued by now that more people fear nuclear war than an actual ‘god’. 

Simply put – those workers in the Clydach nickel works, many of them god-fearing people I’m sure, were playing a part in creating a new ‘god’ and they didn’t even know it. 

Politics has always been of interest to me also, and there is often a link between local politics and my work due to the incompetence of Cardiff Council’s planning authority and the soulless and culturally bereft buildings that they allow to be erected. But on a more general point – constantly learning about how this country works (or doesn’t) and social justice (or lack there of) is invaluable and it encourages you to regularly check your own privileges and strive for a better Wales (and square mile) for others, not just for yourself.

I believe strongly in an independent Wales – I find the fact that a third of Wales’ children are growing up in poverty to be not only unacceptable but endemic of the failures of several Westminster governments, blue and red, who have taken Wales for granted for decades. The argument for self-determination has for so long been lazily dismissed as “Wales can’t afford to be independent.” Well I say we can’t afford not to be.    

I also take a great interest in nature, and birds especially, and like many others I’m concerned about how nature-depleted Wales has become. That sometimes makes me ponder my environment and surroundings that I’m painting. Did you know that out of 240 countries across the world, we’re the 16^th worst when it comes to biodiversity? Depressing. 

9. In what areas outside of the art world would you like to collaborate in the future?

 As I’m a musician, and I’ve recently been experimenting with composing soundtracks and making accompanying paintings, sharing the same subject matter. I’ve found that I can apply so much of my method of working to writing music as I do with my painting. Whether they co-exist to a point where I’m happy with it is another question of course!  

10. Could you describe the role of art in the future in 3 words or phrases?

I probably couldn’t…god knows what the future holds for anything! 

Carlota Nóbrega

1. What 3 keywords that would describe your practice?

Super Sexy Lota.

2. Who has had an influence on your practice? 

I wouldn’t say that there’s someone, in particular, who has influenced my practice. Many things influence my practice. I take references from mundane things, failing things, the glitches I find in my day-to-day life. My work mostly references things that intrigue me or that I find funny – I steal ideas from reality TV, dramas and sci-fi books, things that I hear people say, things that strangers do and I can’t quite understand.

3.What ideas do you want viewers to engage with through your artwork?

I use my work to question things that I can’t understand and make fun of things that I find provoking or intriguing. My work is a thought provocation, so I guess that’s what I would like viewers to engage with.

4. So elements of culture feed into your practice?

Yes, absolutely. I feel like I can only talk about what I know; therefore, whatever is happening around me is reflected in my work. I love to turn catastrophic scenarios into comedy; in the last couple of months/years, I have collected a lot of material.

5. So do you record and collect funny sayings?

Yes, funny sayings and annoying things; I like to keep a record of stories that are so tragic that they almost become funny and stories that are so funny that they almost become tragic.

6.What are the obstacles you face in the production of your art practice?

Life in general? Being an adult? I think keeping your practice when you have to keep up other jobs to pay the bills is probably the main obstacle. Amongst the chaos of freelancing whilst having a full-time job, I try to find time for my practice during lunchtime, breaks and after work in the evenings – I write, research, play Sims and come up with ideas. Whenever I know I can get some studio time; I put these ideas into practice.

7. To whom do you go for help when you hit a block or have difficulties in your creative process?

I speak a lot with my boyfriend, Tom. He is also a creative, so it’s pretty easy to bounce off ideas with him – he challenges my thoughts a lot which is super helpful. 

And, of course, I turn a lot to the collective (Tom was part of it before, so I guess the collective is my final answer).

8. Apart from being an artist, what other jobs have you done?

I like to think of my previous jobs as a sticker collection – I worked as a receptionist in a sort of scam modelling agency, I waitressed during breakfasts in a hotel in Lisbon and in a restaurant after that. The funniest one – I was a liability claims assistant for Cardiff Council 🙈 Now I work as the Audience and Education Coordinator for Ffilm Cymru Wales.

9. What new skills have you needed to learn for your artwork?

For this residency, I had to get my sewing machine out of its dusty box and return to sewing – so I guess it’s more like a renewed skill than a new one.

Yes, of course, I watch TV, read the news, scroll through social media and “surf the internet” (lol) as part of my daily research.

10. In your creative process, do you look into research outside of the art world?

Yes, of course, I watch TV, read the news, scroll through social media and “surf the internet” (lol) as part of my daily research.

11. In what areas outside of the art world would you like to collaborate in the future?

Maybe a documentary film is something I’ve been thinking about recently.

12. Could you describe the role of art in the future in 3 words or phrases?

Making some noise.

13. I have a couple of questions about your artwork. I see the phrase self-sabotage on your wall. What does it mean?

Super Sexy Lota’s club is a ‘safe space’ for holistic and non-judgmental self-sabotage. For napping when you should be doing something else, eating the worst meals when you promised yourself you would be healthy, smoking when you decided you would quit. The list goes on.

Thank you, Carlota!

De nada, my pleasure!

ALL INTERVIEWS BY ANJA STENINA